Study: Sun Plays Role in Lightning Strikes
Lightning is one of nature’s most spectacular and mysterious phenomena, yet there is much scientists still don’t know about it. British researchers have found evidence that high-energy particles, which are blown toward Earth on the solar wind, play a role in triggering lightning on Earth. These energized solar particles can travel from the sun at […]
Scientists Explore Mystery of Antarctica’s Rising
An altered Antarctic landscape is one of the rarely discussed side effects of accelerated ice melting. For years as the ice grew in Antarctica, its weight compressed the ground beneath it. But when the ice melted and this weight was reduced, the ground sprang back, rebounding over time. However, the ground in the Northern Antarctic […]
New Dating System Could Reveal Secrets of Earth’s Ancient Climate
Scientists have a new tool in the quest to learn more about Earth’s ancient climate, including the mechanisms that plunged our planet into and out of ice ages. The new tool is a scientific technique called radiometric krypton dating, which recently allowed researchers to accurately determine the age of a 120,000-year-old Antarctic ice core sample. […]
Study: Air Pollution Over Asia Found to Impact Global Weather
Researchers from Texas, California and Washington recently compared air pollution data provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the years 1850 through 2000 and found that human-made atmospheric particulates (aerosols) from Asia are having an impact on the Pacific storm track, which is a critical driver of global atmospheric circulation that influences weather […]
Earth’s Natural Climate Control Keeps Planet Livable
A new hypothesis explains why Earth has remained habitable despite natural events that have robbed other planets in our solar system of their ability to host and sustain life. As the character Goldilocks exclaimed in the classic fairytale, The Story of the Three Bears, Earth is the one planet in our solar system that’s “just […]
Are Oceans of Water Hiding Beneath Earth’s Surface?
Scientists have discovered the first-ever earthly sample of a water-rich mineral they say provides new proof that there are vast oceans of water deep beneath the Earth’s surface. The team, led by Graham Pearson from Canada’s University of Alberta, found a mineral called ringwoodite in a sample of rock taken from a Brazilian riverbed. Ringwoodite […]
Report Provides Further Evidence People Cause Climate Change
New evidence suggests climate change is human caused and that if the release of greenhouse gases continues unabated, changes to the world’s climate will greatly exceed those that have taken place so far. The new joint report from the US National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society, the national science academy of the UK, […]
Ancient Zircon Reveals Age of Earth’s Crust
A tiny sliver of ancient zircon reveals the crust of our planet formed at least 4.4 billion years ago—160 million years after the birth of the solar system, according to a new study. Earth itself is believed to be about 4.5 billion years old. The researchers examined some of the oldest materials ever found on […]
New Research Provides Insight into When a Volcano Will Erupt
New research by scientists from at the University of California-Davis and Oregon State University may make it easier to predict when a volcano is ready to erupt. A new study published recently in the journal Nature says that before an eruption, the volcanic magma – or the molten/semi molten rock under the volcano – must […]
Planetary Scientists Get Into Balloon Game
A new device developed by NASA will help planetary scientists take advantage of high altitude research balloons, a relatively inexpensive observational platform that has long been used by other scientists. The balloons, which can climb to the edge of space, have been utilized by researchers across multiple scientific disciplines, helping them to make groundbreaking findings. […]